An adamantane contains 4 cyclohexane rings condensed to form a cage skeleton, and is a highly symmetric and stable compound. Its derivatives show specific performances, thus are known to be useful as raw materials for a pharmaceutical raw material, a high performance industrial material and the like. An adamantane has, for example, optical characteristics, heat resistance and the like, and therefore attempts have been made to use it for an optical disk substrate, an optical fiber, a lens and the like (for example, refer to Patent Documents 1 and 2). Further, there have been attempts to use an adamantane ester as a raw material of resin for a photoresist by utilizing its acid-sensitive property, dry etching resistance, UV light transparency and the like (for example, refer to Patent Document 3).
In recent years, in order to achieve higher performance or improvement of an optical/electronic component, studies are progressing for higher precision, wider viewing angle, and enhanced image quality of a flat panel display using a liquid crystal, an organic EL device and the like, for higher intensity/shorter wavelength and whitening of a light source using such optical semiconductors as a light emitting diode (LED) and the like, and further for higher frequency of an electronic circuit and for an optical circuit/communication, and others.
As a method for the improvement, basic materials such as a liquid crystal material, a light emitting material for an organic EL device, and the like have been investigated and developed. The investigation has also been done to seek higher performance of a resin that is used along with those materials as a coating material, a sealant and the like. As a resin for a coating material of an optical/electronic component and for a sealant, many kinds of thermosetting resin, light-curable resin, or thermoplastic resin have been applied. They have been applied in accordance with their respective characteristics in heat resistance, transparency, solubility, adhesiveness, and others of each resin.
In the field of LED, which is advanced in terms of high performance, an illumination, a light and the like using a white LED comprising light emitting devices of near ultra violet and blue lights have been proposed and developed for practical use. In addition, it is expected that they will be developed to be used for a home lighting and an automobile in the future. An LED device is sealed by a resin containing a fluorescent material in an inorganic semiconductor. For such applications, thermosetting resins such as conventional bisphenol A epoxy resin and the like have limitation in heat resistance and light resistance, thus a sealant fulfilling those required characteristics is desired (for instance, refer to Non-Patent Document 1).
Furthermore, in the display field, an organic EL device of small size, high precision, and energy saving is used, and such type as top-emission is employed. Accordingly, a sealing resin itself is required, for the use in an organic EL device, to have further improved transparency, light resistance, heat-resistance, mechanical strength and others in addition to functions such as gas barrier, adhesion of conventional sealing boards such as stainless steel and the like to a glass substrate, and others (for instance, refer to Non-Patent Document 2).
When manufacturing a liquid crystal display, an attempt has been made to form a permanent film such as an interlayer insulation film, a protection film for a color filter and the like by a radiation-sensitive resin composition (refer to Patent Document 5, for example). In order to form such a permanent film for a liquid crystal display, a radiation-sensitive resin composition having excellent transparency in addition to heat resistance and solvent resistance is required. However, it cannot be said that a conventional radiation-sensitive resin composition fully satisfies heat resistance and transparency.
Moreover, in an electronic circuit integrated with a semiconductor and the like, as a computerized society progresses, the increase in volume of information and communication speed and the miniaturization of a device have been progressing. A resin-sealing type semiconductor device (a semiconductor package) is in the direction of higher density, integration, speed of movement and the like of the device, thus a semiconductor device of further miniaturized and thinned than conventional packages (QFP (quad flat package) and the like) is required. For such requirement, there is a semiconductor device enabling high-density mounting such as BGA (ball grid array), CSP (chip size package), and a bear chip mounting. As examples of electric appliances using such a semiconductor device, there may be mentioned a digital camera, a video deck, a note-type personal computer, a mobile phone, and the like, and as these product themselves progress toward more miniature, slim, and complex, they are required higher impact resistance and reliability, and so are their internal substrates and electronic members. In addition, as lead contained in a usual solder (a Sn—Pb type) cannot be used due to an environmental regulation, an alternative material (a Sn—Ag—Cu type, a Sn—Ag—Cu—Bi type, a Sn—Zn—Bi type, a Sn—Cu type) needs to be used. Since these alternative materials have higher melting points, heat resistance endurable to it has been required. A copper-clad laminate used for these semiconductor devices, which is composed of a copper foil and a prepreg obtained by impregnating/drying a glass cloth with an epoxy resin and the like, is required by the same token solder heat resistance and also not to contain water that causes decrease of heat resistance and reliability.
Furthermore, an optical circuit using an optical waveguide and the like that enables further high speed processing has also been investigated. When conventionally used resins such as a bisphenol A epoxy resin and the like are used as a resin for a sealing resin in these uses, an adhesive resin and a film, or a resin for a lens, there have been such problems as high dielectric constant and insufficient heat resistance in an electronic circuit. There have also been problems of a decrease in transparency, or yellowing and the like due to resin deterioration in an optical waveguide and an LED sealant, and others. For instance, in Patent Document 6, a sealant resin composition using a bisphenol A epoxy resin is disclosed, but it cannot be said that this has sufficient heat resistance. In Patent Documents 7 and 8, a resin composition using an alicyclic epoxy resin such as 3′,4′-epoxycyclohexylmethyl-3,4-epoxycyclohexanecarboxylate is disclosed, but it has a problem of high water absorption though its cured product has high heat resistance.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H6-305044    Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H9-302077    Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H4-39665    Non-Patent Document 1: Monthly “Material Stage” June 2003, pp. 20-24, published by Technical Information Institute Co., Ltd.    Non-Patent Document 2: Monthly “Material Stage” March 2003, pp. 52-64, published by Technical Information Institute Co., Ltd.    Patent Document 5: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-232112    Patent Document 6: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H10-219080    Patent Document 7: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H6-128360    Patent Document 8: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H7-278260